President-elect Donald Trump on Friday morning shifted the blame for a potential government shutdown onto the current White House, asserting that resolving the funding impasse is “a Biden problem to solve.”
Earlier in the week, lawmakers seemed poised to avoid a shutdown with a bipartisan stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to extend government funding into March. The package included add-ons to secure Democratic support. However, the bill faced swift opposition from Trump ally Elon Musk, followed by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, ultimately derailing it. With government funding set to expire at midnight Friday, Trump maintained that any shutdown would fall on President Joe Biden’s shoulders.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under ‘TRUMP,’” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!”
A key sticking point for Trump in the negotiations is the government’s debt ceiling. The president-elect has demanded that any funding package address this issue by either significantly raising or eliminating the debt limit altogether—a move that many conservatives oppose after years of insisting on debt ceiling fights.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Friday morning. “Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.”
Attempts to craft legislation aligning with Trump’s demands have so far failed. A deal to fund the government and extend the debt limit collapsed on the House floor Thursday night after 38 Republican lawmakers defected. Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to develop a “Plan C” after abandoning the bipartisan agreement and failing to pass an alternative. Both Johnson and Trump are weighing the potential political costs of a government shutdown.
“We’re expecting votes this morning. So y’all stay tuned. We’ve got a plan,” Johnson told reporters early Friday. When asked if a new agreement had been reached, he added, “We’ll see.”
Johnson faces the challenge of balancing Trump’s demands with the need for Democratic support in both the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for returning to the original bipartisan deal that Trump and Musk opposed.
“It’s a good thing the bill failed in the House, and now it’s time to go back to the bipartisan agreement we came to,” Schumer said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Vance echoed Trump’s stance, blaming Democrats for the impasse. “They’ve asked for a shutdown and I think that’s exactly what they’re going to get,” Vance told reporters Thursday.
